Graduate Careers at Baker Tilly

Baker Tilly applicants don't necessarily need a business or financial based degree, but they must pack strong A Levels and a minimum 2:1. Assuming candidates meet the academic requirements, and with the online application complete, the successful entrants will be invited to an assessment centre. The day kicks off with a company presentation followed by verbal reasoning and numeracy tests. Then comes the group exercise, where you will be separated into groups of four and presented with a business scenario, from which you will have to pick and defend options given to you (for instance, how best to invest some money). Keep an eye on the clock, as each group has to unanimously reach a decision within the allocated time. Remember to speak and convincingly lead the conversation, while also allowing your team members to also express their views. Then it's off to lunch with associates and candidates, so be sure to don your schmoozing and networking hat.

>> Practice Numerical and Verbal Tests used by employers

>> Practice In-tray / e-tray simulation tests

>> Improve your performance at Assessment Centres and Group Exercises

Belly full, you're thrown back in the pool with an interview designed to ascertain whether you would make a good fit or not. You will be asked questions about your education, experiences and motivation for a career in accountancy.

The lucky ones will be invited back for an interview day, during which they'll visit the firm, have a chat with a partner and HR representative, and then read through a business case study (approx 45 minutes). If faced this scenario, you'll be required to prepare a short yet succinct 1 page summary and present it to an interviewer. If successful, you should receive an offer for full time employment within a week of your assessment day.

After the three year graduate programme, you will then be qualified as a chartered accountant. Baker Tilly offers a choice of 6 career paths: audit, business services, restructuring and recovery, corporate finance, public sector audit and taxation services. The firm pays for the relevant classes, revision courses and the first exam attempt. And in the highly likely event the student needs help and guidance, each branch office has its own exam training manager to offer advice and organise extra tuition if necessary.

New accountants will often take on a managerial role and participate in the company’s Executive Development Programme. This enables senior managers to make partner in only 2 to 3 years, clearly demonstrating the firm’s intent to retain employees and help progress their careers.

Baker Tilly Graduate Recruitment Info

Contact:
Graduate Recruitment Team
graduaterecruitment@bakertilly.co.uk

How to apply: careers.bakertilly.co.uk/

Application Deadline: 30 September 2011

Baker Tilly Profile & Stats

With a reputation as a value-for-money firm, Baker Tilly’s skilled staff provide its clients with the kind of personal service not seen at the larger firms. A local firm with national strength, Baker Tilly International is a worldwide network of 145 independent accounting and business service firms, spanning more than 110 countries. Employing over 25,000 people, it has become the world’s 8th largest network of accountancy firms after growing over 500% between 1990 and 2006. Baker Tilly has 26 outposts in the UK and remains hugely ambitious, constantly looking to improve and expand through mergers and acquisitions.

Tracing its roots back to Walter Howard’s firm in 1870, Baker Tilly has had many a name change over the past 140 years. A series of mergers, culminating in the 1988 conjoining of Howard Tilly and Baker Rooke, leaves the firm with the current moniker, Baker Tilly.

Not content simply with organic growth, Baker Tilly actively pursues M&A deals. In 2008, Baker Tilly became the largest accountancy group outside the Big Four in Yorkshire, when the UK financial services firm merged with the independent regional practice, Howarth Clark Whitehill. In 2007, the group merged with Edinburgh-based accountants Scott & Paterson and James Lockhart & Co., making Baker Tilly the biggest accounting and advisory firm outside the Big Four in Central Scotland. Fortifying its international and regional network with these mergers, Baker Tilly has also entered into strategic partnerships to cement its position as a leading auditor to mid-tier companies.

Baker Tilly has a strong reputation for its work in the arts, entertainment, charity, media, and professional practice sectors, servicing entrepreneurial, growing and established businesses. The firm’s UK operations are divided into several main groups: audit, business services, corporate finance, forensic services, growth programme, IT advisory, restructuring and recovery, risk and corporate governance and tax.

Its business services department busies itself with the day-to-day financial activity: management accounting, payroll and preparation of accounts. Corporate finance provide advice to private and public mid-market companies, with expertise in due diligence, M&A advice and project finance. The forensic accounting team provide witness and litigation support in claims of fraud, damages, negligence, divorce or professional liability. Restructuring and recovery's main duty is to preserve as much value as possible and deflect negative impact on stakeholders in the event of restructuring or bankruptcy. And if that wasn't enough, Baker Tilly also offers industry specific advice to its menagerie of clients.

Baker Tilly endeavours to offer its clients a broad range of advisors, capable of helping boards, auditing committees and stakeholders, managing rapidly changing legal requirements and developing new business strategies. The firm can help devise new corporate governance strategies and provide coordinated advice to any size business. Baker Tilly is a primary auditor to AIM-listed companies, having worked on more than 250 AIM transactions, and acts as a nominated advisor – or nomad – to firms listed on the exchange.